Kasungu police burn 2.5 tonnes of chamba after trio convicted
Kasungu police and the magistrate court burned about two and a half tonnes of Indian hemp, most of it confiscated from three men stopped with 13 bags of chamba at Kalenga Trading Centre in August 2015. The three had been convicted and fined K50,000 each, and the burned pile also included consignments seized at two roadblocks whose owners were never traced.
Kasungu police stopped a Toyota Noah, registration NU 8087, at a checkpoint at Kalenga Trading Centre at about 2 a.m. on Friday 14 August 2015 after a tip from members of the public.[1]Searching the car, officers found 13 bags of cannabis sativa inside, and arrested the three men aboard: Mbiriyakula Maliko, 32, Pilirani Chafuwa, 25, and Redson Kamangira, 28.[1]Kasungu police spokesperson Edwin Kaunda confirmed the arrests to The Maravi Post the next day.[1]
The three were convicted by the Kasungu Magistrate Court and each fined K50,000 for possessing cannabis sativa.[2]Together with the court, the police then burned about two and a half tonnes of cannabis sativa confiscated from Maliko and his two friends at Kalenga Trading Centre in the area of Traditional Authority Wimbe.[2]Kaunda said the burned pile also included a consignment found at police checkpoints at Chisazima and Bua roadblocks, whose owners were not traced.[2]
Case data
Every number and detail the sources state, with the sources that state it.
The burning was described by police on Monday 28 September 2015 but no exact burning date was given, so that Monday is used as an approximate incident date.
The burned pile mixed the trio's 13 bags with consignments from the Chisazima and Bua roadblocks, so the trio's share of the 2.5 tonnes is unknown.
No names were published for the owners of the roadblock consignments, who were never traced.
Police in Dedza arrested 46-year-old Mayamiko Empraim on suspicion of supplying chamba to three pupils aged 13 to 15 at Kapalamula Primary School. He was in custody and expected to face a charge of possessing cannabis sativa after a school outreach programme led to the report.
Police at an adhoc roadblock at Phalula, Balaka, stopped a KelFoods company van travelling from Lilongwe to Blantyre on 23 October 2026 and found 26 bags of chamba hidden under 135 bags of maize and egg crates. Driver George Benson, 41, said he loaded the cannabis at Chilanga, Kasungu, for delivery to a woman in Blantyre.
Police in Lilongwe arrested two men on 10 August 2026 after finding 10 bales and 23 packets of cannabis weighing 190 kg in a house in Area 25. Officers said the men had no licence to keep or sell it; one allegedly told them the cannabis came from Eswatini and was bound for Tanzania.
Salima police destroyed about five tonnes of cannabis sativa at Senga Bay on 28 January 2026, burning the drugs under the Police Act and Dangerous Drugs Act provisions that allow disposal of seized drugs after six months with no arrests or claims. The cannabis had been intercepted in roadblocks and stop-and-search operations along major roads.
